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Ninth Grade Science Breakout

Whitney Brewer, a science teacher at Scott County Ninth Grade School, knows how to keep her students engaged in their learning but she keeps the secret under lock and key. Brewer recently received a $1000 grant from the Curious Forever program awarded by the Scott Education and Community Foundation. She used the money to purchase breakout kits that adapt the popular escape game to a classroom setting.

Teams worked together and used notes from class to answer a series of questions about frequency, wavelength, and speed of a wave as a review for the unit test. They had to follow clues, solve puzzles, and crack codes in this team building exercise. If successful, different answers were the combination for locks that secured a black box.

Brewer was available to provide two hints to each group if they got stuck but students chose to use the hints wisely. “You don’t want to use them too soon, you have to make them count,” stated student Delauna Wilson.

In the end, two of five teams cracked the code and opened the black box with only seconds to spare. Madison Tucker was on one of the winning teams. “I liked trying to figure out the problems,” Tucker commented.

Brewer plans to use the kits in future science lessons and share them with her peers at the Ninth Grade School. The Curious Forever grant program provides grants to teachers and community members who seek to inspire curiosity and love of learning in innovative ways. Grants must serve at least 10 Scott County residents and fit within one of the outlined funding categories. To find out more and get a grant application, contact Renee Holmes by email at renee.holmes@scott.kyschools.us.